Welcome to restaurant influencers presented by entrepreneur. My name is Sean Walsh, founder of
Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ media in life in the restaurant business and in the new creator,
economy, we learn through lessons and stories. I want to give a special shout out to toast,
our primary technology partner. We are filming today. This is a historic day for this show. We
are filming at Toast headquarters in Boston and we just finished up day one of the customer
advisory board and I have Sarah Finnegan of Ed Le's Restaurant Group, the chief of staff.
Sarah. Welcome to the show. Thanks Sean. Good to be here. It's amazing to be in Toast
headquarters with this show. Toast told me that they believe in storytelling, told me they
believed in technology, told me that they could transform not only my restaurant but
79,000 other restaurants that trust toast to help us with what we call digital hospitality.
Sarah for you. Can you tell me where in the world is your favorite stadium, stage or
venue, um favorite stadium, stage or venue? I haven't been there but I want on my bucket
list is to go to the metropolitan Opera house in New York City. That's on my bucket list. I'm
a big opera fan as well. My grandfather got me into opera. So we're gonna go to the
Metropolitan House and we're gonna convince toast. So toast puts on spark events now and
these spark events or these in real life events that help restaurant owners get in front
of other restaurant owners to learn about the problems that we have and the solutions that
are available to us. Um We're gonna go to the Met. We're going to bring other people that are
outside of cab, other people that listen to this show to that Met. And I'm gonna put you
just like an opera singer right in the front. And I'm gonna say, Sarah, please tell us, give
us in two minutes, the Edley Restaurant Group story. So I was thinking about that preparing
for this. So the story begins back in 2016 when I first met Will Newman, who's the owner
of Edley. And we met to talk about me coming on board and he asked me one question. He said,
um we talk about at Eddie's, we talk about our southern soul, which is what makes us who we
are. They just opened their third restaurant. Uh And he said, how do we grow? Because he had
big plans even then, how do we grow and keep our southern soul? Because a lot of people
particularly me coming from very corporate restaurants, large corporations, you know, you
kind of have that mentality and he wanted to avoid that. Right. So how do we grow to the
size of a large corporation and not become a large corporation? And so we call that our
southern soul and it really comes down to the people, right? So each location has to have the
right people in it. And even if you have 1000 locations, as long as each location has the
right people and they're authentic about it, then you keep your soul and then fast forward
to this past November. Uh, this shirt that I'm wearing is kind of a story. Uh, so we had
just opened our third restaurant in 2016 when I came on board this past November, we hit 20
million in revenue in November closed out the year with 22 million. A huge goal for us. We
all got these shirts with our patches. We're gonna get a patch every year with our new goal
on it. And we've kept our southern soul, our southern soul is more alive than ever before.
Even though we're getting ready to open our 11th restaurant in two weeks, 12 in November.
And more to come. It's because every restaurant has to have those people and has to
have people that really buy in. So the people are much more important than even the food or
the atmosphere or the drinks. You gotta have the right people when we think of hospitality.
We say that humans are the heart of hospitality. This is also a technology show and
a storytelling show. You can't have stories without humans and you can't have technology
without humans. At least we hope not. Chief of Staff is a crucial position
if you're talking about growth. How, what is your recipe? Um So, you know, right now, we,
we are having a few growing pains because we have grown so much in the last couple of years.
So we're trying to take all the things that we do as chief of staff. I wear a lot of different
hats, you know, managing toast is one of them benefits, payroll finance, all of that. So
we're trying to kind of silo things. So as we grow, we can bring in somebody kind of take,
they take the benefits management, they take the toast management, whatever it might be. But
we kind of have to build out those processes and we're always looking for the right person.
We're not gonna just add people to our team unless they're the right person. You know, we
grew our marketing team last year to four people, 1 to 4 in one year and the fourth
person was not intentional. It was because we found someone where like she needs to be on our
team. And so we hired her, even though we didn't have a position, that's the kind of
owners we have, they invest in that. So it's more about finding the right people as we do
that. And technology is a big part of it, right? We have, you know, as you grow, you have
to have more technology partners and you have to bring in more processes. So that's a big
part of it as well. And toast has been a big part of us being able to grow as we have was
toast originally with the restaurant when you, when you came on, not originally we brought
toast on in 2018, I believe was our first restaurant. And frankly, you know, when COVID
hit in 2020 you know, February 2020 we were poised for our biggest year ever opening new
restaurants and then COVID hit, right. We did have toast on board. And if we had not had the
toast online ordering, I don't think we would have made it. We wouldn't certainly not have
made it as successfully as we had. Uh now and it really helped us because of the ease of the
platform because we were already using it. We didn't have to get up to speed and throw
something together. Our customers were used to it. They could go on. I mean, it really helped
us come through that and be even stronger than ever before. Have you ever served on a customer
advisory board? I have not told this one. No, no. It's been a great thing and, and part of
the reason that I wanted to be on the cab at first was I wanted to learn about toast. And
the more I learned about toast, the more I learned that the culture of toast and the
culture on Italy's restaurant group were very similar, even though we're very different sizes.
Right. So Italy's restaurant group is a smaller group, but we're very authentic. The
owners really want to hear exactly what's going on, just like toast. They really want to
know the real stuff. If there's something not working, they want to know so they can fix it
and it's very authentic. And I've really been able to kind of communicate that to my team by
being on the customer advisory board by meeting Chris and, and the whole team here and
you see how authentic they really are about it and it reminds me of our team. Uh And so I
think we're a really good fit because of that. Why do you think you were selected for the
customer advisory board? I have no idea. I don't know. I mean, maybe because, you know, I
was vocal kind of when I needed things and talking to our sales rep at that time and
asking for things. I have no idea beyond that. Where did you learn to be vocal? Because
somebody that's chief of staff, that's now essentially the position of Chief technology
officer, even though I don't know if you have one or not, but the fact that you're here, you
know, on behalf of your restaurant group. Having these important conversations with
leadership at toast obviously means, you know, it's, it's a funny thing about technology is we
all think myself included. I host a show, another show called Digital Hospitality. I'm
talking about technology all the time to business owners, restaurant owners and yet I
don't know anything about technology. I'm just willing to ask a bunch of bad questions and
eventually get in the right rooms and connect the right dots. Where did you learn to have the
confidence in not having confidence in technology? Um I've always been the kind of
person if I don't know something, I don't like that feeling. So I go out and find out about it.
Right. So back in 2008, I was with another restaurant company. My position was a multi
unit, but it got eliminated right when the um with the uh real estate fall. So I went into
restaurants, operations management, which I had done a lot of roles but had not done that.
I felt very out of my element. And so I made it a point to learn everything I could. I knew
the front of the house from working in the front of the house. I didn't know the kitchen.
So I learned everything I could about the kitchen and you know, every detail. And so when
the line needed help, they called me, they didn't call the kitchen manager, right? So I've
always been that person. And if I don't know about it, I have to learn about it because I
don't like feeling unsure of myself. So, you know, coming on board with either a micros or
Aloha company, I would go and I would learn everything I could about those. The same with
toast. Uh I wanted to learn every little bit about it and I wish I had even more time to do
that um because I want to know every facet of it. And I just have that curiosity and how I
have the confidence is really just because of the team that I have around me at Italy's
Restaurant group, you know, they empower me to have that. Um It's very, you know, it's a, it's
a culture where we can really speak up and be honest about things. And I've been encouraged
to do that. And frankly, that was probably something I think I was told at one of my first
reviews is that, you know, will said you have a lot of great ideas. I need you to speak up
more. And so I really heard that and so I started to do that. And so having that culture,
having that family atmosphere uh at work is really encouraging uh for me to do that.
Do you remember when you realized that your voice matters? Uh I don't remember a specific
time, but I do remember that feeling of being in a meeting with the owner of the company, the
president of the company, you know, these people that, you know, previous in previous
lives, I never would have been in the room with. Right. And just knowing that I could say
something dumb and they wouldn't judge me for it. And being in a meeting where will
or Chris, our president would say, I don't really understand that. Can you explain it to
me and them being humble about that? You know, I remember being at a meeting with the banker
and they said something and will kind of looked at me. He goes explain that to me. I
don't understand it. I would have been afraid to say that I would have had to say, oh yeah,
of course, I know what that means, but I feel empowered now to really say, you know, I don't
know exactly what that terminology is. Can you explain that to me and the same thing with
toast? Right? Instead of just assuming that I have to know everything and finding out on my
own, I can go and ask someone and say, I don't really understand what that is. What is that
acronym? What does this do? What does that do? And being a cab is really empowering for that
as well. Huge news toast, our primary technology partner at our barbecue restaurants
in San Diego and the primary technology partner of so many of the guests that we have
on this show have announced they are expanding their business offerings with Google. So
now if you search on Google maps and you sign up for toast tables or toast wait list, you
will have the opportunity to improve the digital hospitality experience of the guest,
allow them to book through the maps into the toast reservation system. One of the biggest
difficulties that restaurant guests have is when they search for your restaurant and they
want a table, they do not have an easy solution to book a table or to get on a wait
list. This is huge news for the restaurant industry, huge news for guests and huge news
for you. The restaurant owner, check out toast tables today and find out the new integrated
solution that they have. This is something that we've wanted for a long time. How do you
integrate reservations? Wait lists into your point of sale. Toast has done it. Check it out
for me. When I think back on the lessons my grandfather taught me was to stay curious to
get involved, to ask for help, asking for help was difficult for me. Like as an entrepreneur,
it was very difficult for me as a business owner, as a man not knowing, you know, like you
said, acting, having a question that most likely the rest of the room has. But you go in
with a perception that maybe I'm not supposed to be in this room, maybe I'm not supposed to
ask this question. But when you get to the fact of how do you simplify it? You know, I
have a five year old son and one of the profound lessons is I need to, if I can't
explain it to my son, then what are we really talking about? And when we're talking about
technology, so many of the times is we get lost in jargon, industry, jargon. And
it's our job to slow it down and to ask these questions. Do you remember? Was this something
that you learned early in life or was this something that you learned in your professional
career? I think I learned it in my professional career. I don't think, I, I don't
think I grew up that way. Did you ask questions when you were when you were in class?
Um somewhat but not much. And I always sat in the front, I was very, you know, very studious,
always a good student wanted to learn. But, you know, I, I grew up at a time in school
where girls really weren't encouraged to speak out that much, you know. Um So I don't remember
doing that in school as much, maybe in college more. Uh But uh as an adult in my professional
career, I've learned that and it's, it's taken a while to learn that and to be confident and
to speak up. So for this show, for anybody that's new to this show, so much of what we do
is, is story, it's telling the story on the internet, people are really good restaurant
owners, business owners, we're great at telling our story in real life or there would
be no business. You can convince another person of your crazy the idea to open up a
barbecue restaurant or whatever your dream restaurant is and you can convince someone to
work for you and you convince a customer to come in and buy from you. But when it comes to
telling your story online, a lot of times, all of us myself included, we all struggle. Can you
talk to me about the story of Ed Le's barbecue , share the share the barbecue story with us. So,
you know, Eddie's, the name Edley came about, um, because of will, his grandfather was named
William Edley Newman and when will got out of college, um, he decided he wanted to open a
restaurant. He went through some other businesses as well, but he decided that he
wanted to name the business. Edley and he and his wife were working on the business plan and
they're being told Edley is a weird name. People aren't gonna know what it is. You should
call it Newman's because that's their last name and they're like, no, Eddie's means
something to us, right? It means something and still people mispronounce it, they'll say or
what is that? It's a name that means something to them. And I think that set the tone for the
business. It's really about honoring his grandfather who was somebody very uh devoted to
his community. And that's a big part of, of Edie's giving back to the community. He learned
about treating people the right way and that's a big part treating our employees, our team
members the right way. Uh as we go through and providing that great food and service, you know,
that's kind of kind of an afterthought. You know, if you provide a great place for people
to work, if you're part of the community, giving back to the community, people are gonna
come to you and they do because we have great food and great service as well. But those,
those three things all have to coexist, I think. And that's what's made Italy so
successful is the great product, the great people and then giving back to the community,
tell me more about the community. So this past year in 2022 we created something that had long
been a dream uh of Will and Catherine and that was the least foundation. Um So we uh are
raising money through a portion of sales of certain particular items that we sell. Uh We're
gonna do fundraisers as well, but we give back to local charities. Um We, some of our
charities, you know, we give back to the contributor magazine which helps get people out
of homelessness. Uh The Martha o'brien Center which has a lot of literacy programs helping
people that are disadvantaged. Uh We're working with a uh an organization to help
people that are working their path to citizenship and to help sponsor them and in
other events as well. But they're all local charities. We also created an uh employee
assistance fund and we're asking our employees too to contribute to that. So you can
contribute 50 cents a paycheck or $100 a paycheck whatever you want. But that's gonna
roll up and be an emergency fund for our employees. So if somebody loses their house to
a fire and they have no insurance or, you know , they have something catastrophic happen, they
can apply for funds and it will assist them with that. And that's really been a big part of
this past year. Kind of really getting to a point where we can kind of channel our growth.
We've always been a, a very um charitable organization but kind of funneling it where it
can do the most good. Um You know, we donate to numerous uh events to the year of food and
gift cards. Everybody does that. But this is a way to really make a difference in three or
four different organizations in the community and give back, what do you think is the most
challenging part of your job? Uh The most challenging part of my job is really managing
my time effectively. Uh Sometimes I'm just going from task to task that has to be done. Um
And there are times when I'd really like to be able to kind of step back and really think in a
more broader terms or be able to really kind of create some kind of vision. And that's
really challenging for me to find that time. Uh, because there's always a stack of things
that have to be done on my desk. Uh And it's also challenging to try to hand things off to
other people that I've kind of had ownership of. Uh, So that's very challenging as well. And
that's where we're kind of in with some growing paints there and growing our team as
well for that. What does it mean to be a woman in hospitality? Oh, that's a great question. Um
We've talked a lot about that in our, in our support center because we have had several
women join us recently. Um And it means something different. You know, I've had
conversations with our male, regional managers about interacting with female managers
and they'll say, well, she needs, she needs to just speak up to her general manager. And I'm
like, but that's different for you. A man. They're, they're trained to do that. A woman is
not trained to do that. You can't have the same expectation of her. She needs to be
coached more. She needs to have some kind of development that's gonna help her to do that
because she's very new in the management role. Um And so I think it's really important that
women advocate for each other and support each other. And so we are actually working on
creating a group within our company and then hopeful to expand to other small restaurant
companies and just a women's support group. You know, there's a lot of groups out there,
but sometimes you go into the larger groups and, and it doesn't really fit you. So we want
to create our own group. That's us, that we're able to kind of speak honestly and help each
other and hold each, hold each other up and to be a sounding board, really important, it'll be
internal to start. And then we'd like to invite, there's other small restaurant groups
that we kind of partner with on other things. We'd like to maybe invite some of their people
because, you know, if you just have two or three people that could be a little tough. But
now we've gotten to a point where we have, you know, a female manager at almost every location.
And we have, you know, I think five or six at our support center. So we've got a good group
that we can kind of start getting together and creating that cohesion and creating that
sounding board for each other. So, one of the things that I love about your brand is the user
generated content on tiktok and Instagram is phenomenal. Everybody that visits
Nashville can't stop raving about your barbecue, tell me more. So we just had a
comment that uh I saw somebody posted on Slack , uh, one of our marketing team and it said if,
for my last meal, I want it to be Edley. Right . If I'm gonna die tomorrow, I want my last meal
to be Edley. You know, we just have a lot of raving fans and it's, it's one of those things
that is really hard to pin down. Obviously, the food is great, but, you know, everybody
messes up sometimes. Right. Uh, But we do make things from scratch and we do really agonize
over any little change in the food. Uh you know, sourcing out the best brisket, the best
pork, you know, trying to make sure that if we do make some change, is it really gonna fit?
You know, we do our use our desserts from a local bakery called Colt's Chocolate. And a few
years ago, we were looking, you know, these are really expensive desserts, right? Uh We
were looking at changing to a cheaper supplier and you sit down with the cults uh pecan pie
and a generic pecan pie and it's like there's no contest, right? You've got to go with what's
better and people appreciate that even if it's not conscious, it's subconscious, they
appreciate that. You know, our buns come from a local bakery, right? We don't just get
generic buns. So there's thought into every little detail, you know, our barbecue sauce is
a proprietary recipe and will created this recipe years ago and he actually has the folded
piece of paper in his wallet that's disintegrating as we speak. And he wouldn't, he
wouldn't, I think his wife is gonna frame it or make sure. But he wouldn't tell anybody the
recipe for a long time. Uh, and, you know, he would go and make it in a big batch and, you
know, then it would be there to use. And I think there was a story one time that he was at
church and they ran out of barbecue sauce and they called him and he had to rush from church
to go make it because nobody else could make it. And he wouldn't tell him how to make it.
You know, there's a lot of stories about that. Catherine, his wife, of course, was a big part
of the operations. She did payroll. She's in labor at the hospital with one of their sons
and doing payroll as she's in labor because nobody else can do payroll. Right. Exactly. So,
I mean, it's just that kind of thing that really, that they really built upon and, and
they're just, you know, they're just authentic people like that. Catherine has um, a lot of
videos we're doing on her because she cooking right. So she takes, you know, leftover chicken
or pork and shows you a recipe to make it home with it. She is at her house. This is on the
website and you're literally building in public something that we try to teach anybody
that's following the show. The reason why we have the guests that we have on is because they
have the courage to share the secrets. She, you know, she is authentic out there. She's got
the kids and the dog are underfoot. It's at their house, she messes up, they just go on
with it. Right. She's not trying to be, you know, anything picture perfect. She's just
trying to be a mom and showing you what to do when you get home and you want to make
something quick for dinner and it's just all part of the whole culture that, that is a part
of Edie's and the um just the authentic um love of people in the community and
food that kind of exists. So, one of the most difficult things for hospitality professionals
is that we spent so much time, especially as the chief of staff, taking care of your team,
taking care of the community, taking care of everybody else. Very rarely. Do you take care
of yourself? What advice do you have? And what do you do to, to take care of you? Because this
is uh you know, it's a business that we don't want to burn the candle on both ends. You know,
I've thought a lot about that and I've been trying to work on that. Um and it's been
somewhat successful, I guess, but we've had a lot of openings recently. Um I have two fairly
new grandchildren that I want to spend time with my adult kids. I want to spend time with
them. So I've been trying to carve out time when I have to do that. Um, but it's difficult,
it's difficult and, you know, my kids made me promise, you know, you're gonna leave the
office by six every night. And I'm like, I try to do that. I tried to do that some days I
don't. But what they don't know is I started going in earlier, right? So then I can leave by
six because they've got my location on their phone, right? They know if I've left or not. Um,
so you do, you do uh balance things? But I told my daughter, I was like, I love my job. So
why do I have to turn it off at six o'clock if I love what I'm doing. And so that's part of it,
you do have to make time to relax and hang out with family. But when you love your job,
you know, you wanna work, you wanna be there, you know, with COVID, I could have worked
remotely. I went into the office every day because I felt like I was a part of something,
you know, and I was in a separate office so I was still able to quarantine but will was in
the other office, you know, and the boys, he brought, he brought one of the boys to school
to home school him every day. And they would be out, out in the uh other office doing a
recess and he would get on his Zoom meetings with his teammates and they went down to the
restaurant and said to pledge allegiance to the flag every morning. And so, you know, you
just, you know, we were talking about COVID. I told him, I said George and be, they're gonna
remember vastly different things about COVID because they got to have home school with mom
and dad and have all these great memories. And as adults, we think about all the hardships,
right? All the difficult things. They're gonna think it was a great time because of that. So
that's just, it's just the kind of company we are and, and I do try to carve out time, but I
love my job too. So not saying it's always easy, but it's satisfying. And what does it
mean to you that they trust you to sit here in this interview for entrepreneur to
send you to Boston? Well, technically toast sent you to Boston, but they had to approve of
it. I mean, what, what does it mean to you? Uh It means a great deal to me because we're part
of a family and it means that, that they do trust me to represent the brand, represent
Edley and, and because I love the brand. And uh so it means a great deal to me. It's
important for any founder that's listening to understand that, the more that we give other
people in our organization a voice and that's online and in real life, the stronger our
organization is. And I know that's counterintuitive to a lot of the way that
founders think and CEO S think. But, um I can't wait to come and visit Ed Lee's. Um, when
I, when I make it down, um, it's gonna be an amazing trip for me. So anybody that's
listening to this show every single Wednesday and Friday on the social audio app Clubhouse,
we meet because we want to hear your story. We want, we want to hear about your restaurant if
you're in sales, if you're in marketing, if you're in operations, um It's a place where
we're building community. If you're a toast, customer toast has an incredible community that
they're building. Um We're gonna put links into the show notes. We're gonna put links for
Edley Barbecue where, where can people follow you on social? Uh They can follow us on tiktok
on Instagram, Facebook, all the socials, uh at least BBQ, at least BBQ if you guys want to
connect with me, it's at Sean
Pwshawnpwalchef. Uh We are grateful to
toast for having us hosting us, um you know, investing in the customer advisory board so
that we can actually, I mean, it's amazing to me to have so many different backgrounds of
people here that have different restaurant groups that are making suggestions that
literally since you and I have been on cab. We're actually watching these suggestions
become new products. They really do listen to the feedback and act on it. Yeah. Uh The one
thing we do want to give a social shout out and this week's social shout out goes to
Catherine, Kali Katherine is leading toast. She's responsible for getting all of these
incredible restaurant owners. She's responsible for setting up this interview,
Catherine. We appreciate you. Thank you. Um And thank you guys for listening to the show.
Sarah. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Can't wait to come and have some barbecue,
barbecue, Rosie barbecue versus no, we believe a a tid lift all ships. We uh
we celebrate all barbecue no matter where in the world it is. I agree. Thank you. Thanks.
Thank you for listening to restaurant influencers. The best way that you can help us
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